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Saving water in the home

Water is a precious resource which needs to be used carefully. Water taken from rivers and lakes for human use has an impact on wildlife. By saving water in your home and garden, you can help the environment too.

Flush less water down the toilet

Toilet flushing accounts for about a third of household water usage. You probably flush away as much water in a day as you drink in a whole month. There are easy ways to reduce this by:

installing a water displacement device (or 'Save-a-Flush') in the cistern of a higher flush toilet – these reduce the amount of water used for each flush, typically by one or two litres

choosing a water-saving, low-flush or dual-flush version when buying a new toilet

fitting a variable flushing device to existing higher flush toilets - this will give you a choice of flush volumes to help save water

throwing cotton wool, sanitary products and other waste in the bin, not the toilet

Switch to showers

A quick shower uses much less water than a bath. Fitting a flow regulator or water-efficient shower head reduces the amount of water you use by 30 per cent without compromising shower performance. These should not, however, be fitted to electric showers as this can lead to overheating of the water. Also, avoid high volume power showers as you can easily use more water than if you had a bath.

Use water-efficient appliances

All new dishwashers and washing machines have a European (EU) energy label which tells you the amount of water used per wash and how energy efficient they are.

Turn off the taps

Leaving a tap running while cleaning your teeth, shaving or washing fruit and vegetables can waste about six litres of water a minute. To cut down on wastage you can:

collect the cold water that comes through before a tap runs hot and use it for watering plants

keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of waiting for the tap to run cold

wash fruit and vegetables in a washing up bowl full of water instead of running a tap

only fill a kettle to the amount needed

Another way to reduce water use is to fit an aerator or spray ends to washbasin taps. An aerator mixes air with water and can reduce water use by up to 50 per cent.

Make use of greywater and rainwater

Any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets, is called greywater. Shower, bath and washbasin water can be re-used in the garden. More information and guidelines for doing this are on the following page:

You can also collect rainwater to use in your house for flushing toilets, washing cars, watering plants or even for the washing machine. For this you will need a large rainwater harvesting system which must be linked to your domestic plumbing.